Early thoughts on this team

[SKSooner]

After watching the exhibition game and the first game against Western Kentucky, I came way with the following early thoughts:

What I like:

1. Decisiveness. I've heard Sherri say multiple times already we need to make quicker decisions to overcome the lack of size. So far, so good. I love the fact we look to shoot and move the ball quickly. I think last year's team was horrible with being decisive, and it drove all of us crazy. I love everything Maddie Manning did for us, but we have freshmen making more strong-willed decisions in Game 1 than she did as a sixth year senior. I love the fact these freshmen don't have fear. Just look at Taylor Robertson! My goodness, she knows exactly what she wants to do with the basketball.

2. Shaina's willingness to shoot. The exhibition game was much better than Game 1, but it's clear she's not afraid to shoot. I hope she continues to build confidence.

3. The pace. I love the pace. I think Sherri Coale's best teams have played fast over the years, and I feel like her last few teams played like turtles. Just painfully slow. I don't know if Veitenheimer is infinitely faster than Ortiz, but she knows how to move the ball up the floor - with long passes! What a concept. It's wonderful.Especially when you add Shaina, we're flying. I think our pace will be a problem for some teams.

4. Madi Williams is going to be a superstar. I love how she plays, and she will really help fill a void in rebounding. She reminds me so much of Amanda Thompson the way she can rebound the basketball, but I think she's further along than AT was as a freshman. I love Madi's attitude, as she appears to have a little mud in her blood - which is something our program has desperately missed over the last few years.

5. Defensively, we are active with our hands. This is a very good thing because it will force a lot of turnovers and easy baskets.

6. I feel like we have multiple weapons offensively and have a much better flow than year's past. The chemistry just seems to be better. (I realize it's way too early).

What I haven't liked:

1. The turnovers against WKU were not good. We need to play smarter, especially with the lead. It seems we make a lot of turnovers trying to get the ball into the post - which isn't a good sign.

2. Post play. We have no post presence whatsoever. And that's okay offensively. I think we'll be just fine. But we need to figure out a way to defend the post and rebound. Madi will help on the rebounding front, but we could get really pounded inside this year.

3. Defense has a long way to go. We are showing flashes of being able to defend, and I think the way we play could give some teams fits, but we are young, and young teams struggle early defensively. We will lose games when we can't score early in the season.

 

[sybarite]

I like your thoughts. Incidentally, Maddie is averaging 19.5 and 10.5 in pro ball in Switzerland. I always felt she was deferential after her injury.

No doubt that our strength is guard. I'm not sure yet whether we have any post help, or whether we just haven't developed the team concept sufficiently to be able to perform entry passes. I haven't seen anyone hitting five and ten foot jumpers if we were to get it inside. I have seen a couple of passes from Tatum to Madi work out inside.

I do think that everyone is more decisive. Shaina is so confident that I don't know if she would back off. She doesn't think anyone can stay with her, and she can shoot. As Sherri said, the combination of Taylor and Shaina may assure that both become stars. If you stop Shaina, she can get it out to Taylor. Name your poison.

It did appear to me that Ana was showing some anxiety, trying too hard to be the leader.

That role just seems to come natural to Tatum. She gets into the middle of everything: loves to control the flow, rebounds well, hands everywhere.

They didn't have many turnovers early. Those came after they were exhausted. Missing Jesse and Penzo meant that everyone had to play 35 minutes. Tatum and Madi misconnected (think it was them) on an inbounds pass with about a minute left. The passer didn't even notice that the receiver wasn't looking back for the ball. Just dribbled out of bounds behind two tired players. Essentially, we were missing Penzo, Jesse, and Ana.

They haven't learned each other yet. They just shoot or drive, no real passing with an object. They can toss it to someone, they hit a three, and there is an assist. That's about it thus far.

Nobody is hitting anything short, from anywhere.

 

[SoonerinNC]

One of the big differences I see is that we are getting open for shots much better in our half court game. This is due to the best passing and movement away from the ball I have seen from this team in years. Tatum is largely responsible for this. She does not do a lot of aimless dribbling and has good court vision. She and Taylor Robertson have very good basketball IQ's and Pellington is developing in that direction.

If you noticed most of the shots Robertson missed were when she was not quite set and rushed her shots. She is pretty savvy about getting open but we have to wait for heavier competition to know if she can get open against quicker players. But if she can her 8 treys in one game could be surpassed numerous times in her career here.

Most are comparing Madi to Amanda Thompson. Madi may be as good as a freshman as Amanda was as a senior.

Too bad we haven't snared a good big inside or that Nancy Mulkey didn't work out. If we were stronger inside we could be a seriously good team.

I watched a little bit of Arkansas opener. Dungee is starting and looking pretty good. Anyone know why she transfered?

 

[soonerstar]

Dungee said OU was not the right environment for her. She said, nothing in particular, just that it was not a right fit for her. She has lost 35 pounds and become a vegetarian. Hope she does good for the Hogs. Could have been the best player for us this year.

 

[Soonerguy06]

I don't know about Dungee being our best player this year, I give that to Shaina over her hands down, but she'd definitely be a leader for us. At this point, i'd prefer her over Ana, just because of the consistency issue. Sometimes Ana is a good player, but other times she's virtually useless! I really hope she's not like that this year, unlike her freshman year and against WK. We desperately need consistency from Ana in order for us to challenge the big dog teams. Shaina and Madi and even Taylor can't do it alone. If we can establish a post presence we could be a good team!

I'm watching Baylor player ASU and so far i'm not really as impressed as I thought i'd be. I don't think they are a Final Four team this year. Maybe next year. Anyone know why Aquira DeCosta is not playing right now?

 

[Mac]

:billy

I don't know about Dungee being our best player this year, I give that to Shaina over her hands down, but she'd definitely be a leader for us. At this point, i'd prefer her over Ana, just because of the consistency issue. Sometimes Ana is a good player, but other times she's virtually useless! I really hope she's not like that this year, unlike her freshman year and against WK. We desperately need consistency from Ana in order for us to challenge the big dog teams. Shaina and Madi and even Taylor can't do it alone. If we can establish a post presence we could be a good team!

I'm watching Baylor player ASU and so far i'm not really as impressed as I thought i'd be. I don't think they are a Final Four team this year. Maybe next year. Anyone know why Aquira DeCosta is not playing right now?

I thinks she’s hurt, but it’s going to be hard to find minutes for her when she will be playing behind both Cox and Smith for the next 2 years...

 

[Hoopdreams79]

I’m gonna allow our girls to play a few more games before i make judgement on who are our top players. But i do know based on last year that if Pellingtok was our pg that we would not be having as much success. I know we had 3 seniors who were 1000 point scorers who dididnt see the ball near enough. I want consistency - that is key to better players. But as thin as OU is i would say we need every kid we have plus 4 more post!

 

[Hoopdreams79]

Yes from what i understand decosta has a stress fracture. Not sure how long she’s out but could end up being redshirt if she doesn’t think she’ll get time.

Also on best player on big 12 i just feel it’s Smith mostly because she just has a few roles. And she will never draw best defender because she has cox and brown on her team . It’s was nice seeing Madi get 15-15 but she and Ana having 7 turnovers a piece will hurt us in tougher games. That is a lot of turnovers for kids that don’t have the ball in their hands a whole lot. Yes we will say freshman mistake but this year we can’t use that excuse when 50% or more of your contribution will come from fresh.

 

[sybarite]

G: 33---30
GS: 18---22
MIN: 695---886
FGM: 81---128
FGA: 214---344
FG%: 37.85---37.21
3PtFGM: 22---45
3PtFGA: 65---171
FG%: 33.85---26.32
FT: 60---76
FTA: 74---108
FT%: 81.08---70.37
PT: 244---377
PPG: 7.39---12.57
OR: 18---39
DR: 66---82
TR: 84---121
R/G: 2.55---4.03
ASST: 26---29
TO: 51---62
Stl: 19---40
BK: 5---2
PF: 62---93

Two freshmen: the first numbers are those of Dungee, the second of Llanusa. Dungee was sixth on the team in scoring at 7.39. Ana scored 12.57, almost doubled Dungee in boards, and was runner-up Big Twelve freshman of the year. Ana exploded for 27 against both New Mexico and West Virginia. Was solid throughout the year. Chelsea kind of disappeared a lot during conference season. Ana played well except when limited by foul trouble.

 

[SoonerSpock]

More than anything to me Ana needs to play to her strengths. She took almost as many shots BTA as two points shots (171 vs 173). She shot 26% BTA and 48% (83/173) from two. Ana did make 3-5 BTA in the exhibition but 2 were very long and contested. Poor shot selection. Then against Western Kentucky she was 0-4 BTA.

She needs to learn to play to her strength. Leave the shots BTA to Taylor, Shaina and Tatum unless totally uncontested. Focus on penetration and the pull up jumper (yes that is still a shot in the women's game).

 

[Soonerguy06]

I'm going to have to just agree to disagree on the Ana vs Dungee thing. they both have their strengths but overall I would have to say last year was a pretty down year for freshman in the Big 12 and also Dungee was on a team with a lot more seniors. I mean she didn't play as much had Ana. So if Ana got more playing time overall than Dungee, of course she will produce more if she's on the court more. I think Ana has a higher ceiling and more overall potential but for right now, I think Dungee would just be that Solid Rock of a player that we could have leaned on this year... I think Arkansas is going to be really competitive if not this year next year with what they've got coming in and what they have had transfe, recruits, coaching, etc. They'd be top five in the Big 12 in my opinion, kind of like a TCU type of team. I hope with Anna being injured now we can get consistent production from whoever replaces her.... I definitely know we are going to miss Vivi, more so than any of last year seniors especially during Big 12 Play.

 

[sybarite]

We most definitely disagree. Those "seniors" that Dungee had to contend with for time: Gioya missed starting some games due to an injury. Her playing time was only 656 minutes as a senior. If she is healthy, Dungee probably wouldn't have played 300 minutes. The other "seniors:" TT and Derica? 646 minutes between them.

We had Manning 12.62, Little 12.42, Vivi 11.91, Ortiz 8.88, and Carter 7.72.

I suspect that Llanusa would have been the team's leading scorer that year.

 

[Oliver Hardy]

I loved that we are getting the ball up quick and aren't dribbling around the arc for all but the last 5 seconds of the shot clock.

Impressed with Tatum, Robertson and Williams. All they are going to do is get better PDQ. Bright future with those three alone.

Can't wait to see what Murcer brings.

Sad news about Anna.

Simpson was adequate in the posts -- certainly better than EJ. We are going to have problems all year at post and will just have to do the best we can.

Excited to see the girls go forward.

 

[Soonerguy06]

I'm excited about Murcer as well! Reminds me of Jenna Plumley, this far anyway.

 

[soonermike22]

After watching the exhibition game and the first game against Western Kentucky, I came way with the following early thoughts:

What I like:

1. Decisiveness. I've heard Sherri say multiple times already we need to make quicker decisions to overcome the lack of size. So far, so good. I love the fact we look to shoot and move the ball quickly. I think last year's team was horrible with being decisive, and it drove all of us crazy. I love everything Maddie Manning did for us, but we have freshmen making more strong-willed decisions in Game 1 than she did as a sixth year senior. I love the fact these freshmen don't have fear. Just look at Taylor Robertson! My goodness, she knows exactly what she wants to do with the basketball.

2. Shaina's willingness to shoot. The exhibition game was much better than Game 1, but it's clear she's not afraid to shoot. I hope she continues to build confidence.

3. The pace. I love the pace. I think Sherri Coale's best teams have played fast over the years, and I feel like her last few teams played like turtles. Just painfully slow. I don't know if Veitenheimer is infinitely faster than Ortiz, but she knows how to move the ball up the floor - with long passes! What a concept. It's wonderful.Especially when you add Shaina, we're flying. I think our pace will be a problem for some teams.

4. Madi Williams is going to be a superstar. I love how she plays, and she will really help fill a void in rebounding. She reminds me so much of Amanda Thompson the way she can rebound the basketball, but I think she's further along than AT was as a freshman. I love Madi's attitude, as she appears to have a little mud in her blood - which is something our program has desperately missed over the last few years.

5. Defensively, we are active with our hands. This is a very good thing because it will force a lot of turnovers and easy baskets.

6. I feel like we have multiple weapons offensively and have a much better flow than year's past. The chemistry just seems to be better. (I realize it's way too early).

What I haven't liked:

1. The turnovers against WKU were not good. We need to play smarter, especially with the lead. It seems we make a lot of turnovers trying to get the ball into the post - which isn't a good sign.

2. Post play. We have no post presence whatsoever. And that's okay offensively. I think we'll be just fine. But we need to figure out a way to defend the post and rebound. Madi will help on the rebounding front, but we could get really pounded inside this year.

3. Defense has a long way to go. We are showing flashes of being able to defend, and I think the way we play could give some teams fits, but we are young, and young teams struggle early defensively. We will lose games when we can't score early in the season.

Excellent summation and analysis.
The turnovers we had were such poor passes, that I think more time playing together will reduce those, and we will recognize we need post play only when we have excellent inside position, and only often enough to keep opponents defense aware we have an inside presence.

 

[j2d2]

Sherry's teams have always been turnover prone. An defense has never been a priority. i think this team has a chance to be good defensively if the coaching staff emphasizes it.

 

[SoonerSpock]

Sherry's teams have always been turnover prone. An defense has never been a priority. i think this team has a chance to be good defensively if the coaching staff emphasizes it.

Good defensively relative to most of Sherri's teams? Perhaps with a couple of freshmen that learned defense in high school. Coach staff emphsis on defense? Not as long as Sherri is running the show.